News has been making rounds about how some Ugandan Musicians have increased their performance fees from what has been known by promoters to some higher fees.
Promoter Bajjo, of “Bajjo events – Clear process” said that Musicians have increased their fees but some of them don’t live up to this billing. Our moles have told us that Dr. Jose chameleon has increased his booking fees to 10 million Shillings if you want to book him to perform in and around Kampala.
According to promoter Bajjo, he says that Musicians such as Pallaso and Juliana Kanyomozi charge a lot of money yet they don’t pull crowds to meet these high fees. He says that promoters who book these musicians expensively should be cautious as they book these musicians who hiked their fees because they risk running bankrupt since the money given to musicians might not come out in terms of profits.
Bajjo was also not happy with the idea of charging shillings 10,000 for a show within Kampala. He said that all music shows in Kampala should charge at least 20,000 per head to reduce thieves and idlers from disturbing revelers.
I have no problem with musicians increasing their fees as long as they have good music. If a musician has no music to offer they don’t even deserve to be booked for a show. However, in these biting economic times, musicians should be considerate not to over-hike their performance fees because the fans don’t have lots of money, are suffering high inflation, and are just recovering from the hardships of
COVID-19.
If festivals of 50,000 shillings persist, and musicians’ performance fees are too high, Ugandans might abstain from these festivals and it is Ugandan musicians that will lose out. Let it be a mutual benefit for both fans and musicians plus the promoters.
Ugandans still have an option of Foreign musicians, most especially the Nigerians who have much better music than Uganda artists. Therefore, this can be a strong option for Ugandan fans who have already shown much love to Nigerian artists in the previous year with all Nigerian concerts selling out despite being held at 50,000 shillings minimum. The fact that most bars, nightclubs, and media houses play most Nigerian music than Ugandan music, should already give a signal to musicians here not to charge lots of fees for shows.
Therefore, as Uganda artists hike their fees, they should know that their fans have an option of Nigerians who are always just a call away, have better music, and perform really well on stage. Stay blessed.
